Interview with Brad Bradford

The Harris County District Attorney race may be the second highest profile race locally after the one for President. It’s been a little quieter since former DA Chuck Rosenthal slunk off the scene in disgrace and since the contentious Republican primary to replace him on the ballot, but it’s still a race that has garnered and will continue to garner a lot of attention. Former HPD Chief C.O. “Brad” Bradford, the Democratic nominee for the job, may be the best known candidate on the local ballot. Not all of that is for positive reasons, of course. There are a number of people who have reservations about him, which he’ll have to overcome in order to win. I can say that having had several opportunities to speak with him and discuss issues with him, he’s impressed me. I really like the themes his campaign has highlighted. It would have been easy, in a Bradford/Rosenthal matchup, to simply piggyback on the overall “we want a change of direction” feeling of this election season and make the campaign about not being Chuck Rosenthal. The much harder task, especially with Rosenthal now gone, is to talk about who you are and what you want to do and why your way isn’t just a change but an improvement. I think he’s done a good job of that (A Harris County Lawyer has also liked what he’s seen), and I hope if you’ve had your doubts you’ll listen to the interview (MP3 as always) and see if they get addressed.